These are the notes that became the framework for the Beginner’s
Guide.

If nothing is going to change, why do I want to do this work? Arthur
Bull

Things change in learning circles. Things change for individuals,
things change for groups and things change for the community at large.

There is the stuff that happens in the group and the stuff that happens
around the group.

Learning circles are transformative because they:
- are supported by
social capital
- foster critical literacy
- support individual and/or social change
- are not outcomes bound
- they have goals, vision, missions etc. but these
are set by the group not an outside agency - motivation is integrative
and intrinsic

the main goal is that “there will be change” – people
will be different as a result of participating in a learning circle,
and perhaps the community will be different, but how they will be different
is not pre-determined

continuum of connection to community (from focus on individual change
and support to focus on community change and support):
shelter from the
storm — freedom zone — educating
community — social change

We are both individual and collective, one person and the member of
a group/groups

We are essentially social beings. We live in societies, of course; but
more fundamentally perhaps, it is our participation in social communities
and cultural practices that provides the very materials out of which
we construct who we are, give meaning to what we do, and understand what
we know.

…

Why is it then that we always think of learning in individualistic terms
of acquisition of information? We associate it with lecturing teachers,
with orderly classrooms, with didactic training sessions, or with lonely
evenings of homework. We think of individual capabilities judged in standardized
terms of intelligence. And we think of books, assuming that information
exists on paper or in words, there to be acquired by individual minds?

activate their gifts - learning circles operate on the principle
that what carries people through life is developed strengths and talents,
not remediated weaknesses (Dr. Edward Hallowell, Studio 2 – April
25, 2005)

invigorate their lives

include healing - people are medicine for other people (Janice
Brant)

include developing a different sense of identity as a learner or
as a community member - see storytelling as part of this (see
themselves as centre of a story but also see themselves in other people’s
stories which creates as sense of connectedeness, universality, collectivity)

For communities, the impact of learning circles upon
them can range from very subtle to very dramatic.

Shelter model:

build an inclusive, non-judgmental, open, safe and free space

participants build strength individually and collectively - part
of this comes from knowing that they are part of this group where they
will always be accepted and celebrated for who they are and the gifts
they have

can return for comfort, acceptance and rejuvenation

Freedom zone model:

as above +

model a community as the group wishes the larger community to be

carry this model with them when they leave the group and try to spread
the “freedom zone” principles when and where they can - this
work is done by individuals looking for the “cracks” in
the other organizations, workplaces, environments in which they participate

Community education model - the ripple
effect:

as above +

are focused on bringing information to the larger community - they
consciously bring the principles of the “freedom zone” (the
way they work together) as well as the information to the community
through explicit education programs - these education programs
are designed to foster or spark change among individuals - they
work on a “ripple effect” model

Community activist model:

as above +

are focused on bringing change to the larger community - they
consciously research policy and advocate for change in the community
at large - they meet with policy makers and/or engage in civil
disobedience

People learn about collaborative thinking

A community of practice is an aggregate of people who come together
around some enterprise. United by this common enterprise, these people
come to develop and share ways of doing things, ways of talking, beliefs,
values—in short, practices—as a function of their joint involvement
in mutual activity. Social relations form around the activities, the
activities form around relationships, and particular kinds of knowledge
and expertise become part of individuals’ identities and places
in the community. It is not the assemblage or the purpose that defines
the community of practice; rather, a community of practice is simultaneously
defined by its membership and the shared practice in which that membership
is engaged.

…

Institutional identities are both inevitable and reflective of the institution.
An identity is not something that can be packaged or drilled. Rather,
it is a trajectory of participation that reflects the actual practices
of specific communities and specific forms of participation in these
practices. As a trajectory, an identity is not an object that one owns
once and for all: it is defined over time, it evolves, and it has a momentum
of its own. It is what gives a flexible continuity to the various forms
of participation one is engaged in.

Penelope Eckert and Etienne Wenger From School to Work: an Apprenticeship
in Institutional Identity,
April 1994
Downloaded from www.ewenger.com/pub/index.htm on April 9, 2005

A community of practice is an aggregate of people who come together
around some enterprise. United by this common enterprise, these people
come to develop and share ways of doing things, ways of talking, beliefs,
values—in short, practices—as a function of their joint involvement
in mutual activity. Social relations form around the activities, the
activities form around relationships, and particular kinds of knowledge
and expertise become part of individuals’ identities and places
in the community. It is not the assemblage or the purpose that defines
the community of practice; rather, a community of practice is simultaneously
defined by its membership and the shared practice in which that membership
is engaged.

…

Institutional identities are both inevitable and reflective of the institution.
An identity is not something that can be packaged or drilled. Rather,
it is a trajectory of participation that reflects the actual practices
of specific communities and specific forms of participation in these
practices. As a trajectory, an identity is not an object that one owns
once and for all: it is defined over time, it evolves, and it has a momentum
of its own. It is what gives a flexible continuity to the various forms
of participation one is engaged in.

Penelope Eckert and Etienne Wenger From School to
Work: an Apprenticeship in Institutional Identity,
April 1994
Downloaded from www.ewenger.com/pub/index.htm on April 9, 2005

People educate their communities

As valuable as information is, information by itself
is meaningless—as
are the sounds of an unknown foreign language. Information only takes
meaning in the context of the social practices of the communities that
give it cultural life.

It is therefore through our membership in these communities
that we come to know—and to be empowered by what we know. In fact, isolation
as a principle is either illusory or paralyzing—except perhaps
when it is part and parcel of the practice of communities that give it
a social meaning, as in monastic seclusion or in the process of writing.
Our very identity of individuality is a matter of belonging.